Valentine’s Day is next week, and we’re celebrating the holiday of love college-style! Read on to learn about famous college sweethearts, romantically-themed college classes, and more!

Romantic campus traditions

Do you hope to find a partner before college graduation? Do you want to make your crush love you back? Well, then you better follow these romantic college campus traditions!

(Side note: We are not proponents of trying to find your life partner in college - quite the contrary, actually! But in the spirit of Valentine’s Day we are playing along..❤️❤️❤️ )

At William and Mary, the Crim Dell bridge can determine the fate of a student's love life. According to legend, those who walk across the bridge alone will remain solo forever. And those who cross with a lover must stop for a kiss in the middle of the bridge to ensure their happy ending. If they ever break up, the couple must return to the bridge and throw one partner off of it (no, we’re not making this up!).

At Syracuse, students don’t have to push anyone off of a bridge. They just need to sit on the kissing bench. This resting spot is supposed to bring marriage to couples who kiss here. But beware if you are single! It’s believed that if a single person sits on the bench, they’ll be alone for life. 

Hopeful couples looking for a happily ever after at Texas A&M head to the iconic Century Tree. It was one of the first trees planted on campus and is steeped in legend. Supposedly, if a couple walks under the tree together, they will marry. And any couple who becomes engaged under the tree will have a successful, lifelong marriage.

LOVE in the city of brotherly love

Are you in search of love? If so, you’re sure to find it at the University of Pennsylvania. Situated in the city of brotherly love, UPenn is home to an iconic bright red LOVE sculpture. According to the university’s almanac, pop artist Robert Indiana first designed the LOVE logo in the 1960s. The stacked L-O-V-E letters had such appeal that Indiana eventually turned the logo into a sculpture in the early 70s. Since then, sculptures of LOVE have been reproduced all over the world, even appearing in different languages. A rendition of the famous sculpture currently stands in the heart of UPenn’s campus, thanks to a donation from art dealer Jeffrey Loria. So if you’re looking for love this Valentine’s Day, head to 36th and Locust Walk.

College sweethearts

College campuses have long been the setting for great love stories. In fact, several celebrities met their future spouses as students. While attending Harvard University- and creating Facebook in his spare time- Mark Zuckerberg reportedly met his future wife at a fraternity party in 2003. They were together nearly a decade before officially changing their relationship status to ‘married.’ 

Bill and Hillary Clinton met while both taking a class on political and civil rights at Yale Law School. The former president was too hesitant to introduce himself, so Hillary made the first move one day in the library. According to Clinton, his future wife approached him with a memorable line: “Look, if you’re gonna keep staring at me and now I’m staring back, we at least ought to know each other’s name.” 

Perhaps the most famous college sweethearts in the world are Prince William and Princess Catherine. The two met at the University of St. Andrew’s in Scotland where they developed a close friendship. Eventually they became platonic flatmates, and as Prince William described in their engagement interview, “It just sort of blossomed from there, really.”

Schooled in Love

To some, love is just a feeling, but it happens to be a topic of serious study at several colleges and universities across the country. In recent years, a number of classes analyzing the psychology of love, as well as the state of modern relationships have appeared in course catalogs. At Northwestern University, undergraduates interested in developing their relationship skills can take Dr. Alexandra Solomon’s highly publicized class, Building Loving and Lasting Relationships: Marriage 101. Over the course of a semester, students study the art of dating, bonding, and partnering across cultures. This class has been such a hit that it’s received media coverage in major news outlets.

NYU has found its own success with love-themed classes. In Love Actually, students explore what love actually is from psychological, cultural and artistic perspectives. If you’re interested in seeing why this course has become so popular (and the topics it covers), check out the course book list. And for students who want to learn more about the college dating scene, NYU offers 100 Years of Courting, Dating, and Hooking Up on College Campuses. In this class, undergrads take a look at the changing behaviors of college students over the past century and examine how universities have responded. 

Some of our lesser-known favorites over the past five years include Love, Mating, and the Brain (UT Austin); Love in the Time of Tinder (Lehigh University); and The Art of Loving (Princeton University). 

sweet tooth

No Valentine’s Day is complete without a delicious heart-shaped box of chocolates. And we have Penn State to thank for these sweet treats! The College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State is known throughout the world for its quality chocolate research over the past fifty years. Teams of faculty, graduate students, and fellows have worked to enhance crop production and the overall quality and taste of chocolate. Specific research topics include cacao production, chocolate making processes, and plant improvement. In an effort to share their passion with others, The College of Agricultural Sciences offered a Chocolate Short Course in the summer of 2022 for professionals in the chocolate industry. 

A Lovely Entrepreneur 

When Esther Howland graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1847, she had no idea that she would fall in love with business or become the “mother of the American valentine.”  Inspired by the Valentine’s greeting cards her father sold in his stationery shop, Esther decided to create her own. She imported speciality materials from England and created an elaborate signature look for her Valentine’s greetings. The cards were often decorated with lace, silk, and satin! What began as a small project in the family home eventually transformed into a successful business: the New England Valentine Company. Howland ended up earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in the 1800s— a time when women weren’t supposed to work outside the home, let alone run a business. Since then Howland has become a true legend. Her entrepreneurial spirit is a reminder of Mount Holyoke's long-standing reputation for educating powerful female leaders.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Whether you’re celebrating with your galentines, palentines or valentines, we hope you have a wonderful week and get to eat lots of yummy treats!